The Mysterious Flight of the Bumblebee's...

[mikelewis]

This story is pretty creepy...

Mystery of the vanishing bees

David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.

In 24 states across America, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation's most profitable.

"I have never seen anything like it," Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. "Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home."

In a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/27/business/bees.php

[tanyev]

1. So long, and thanks for all the nectar!

[mikelewis]

2. lol....

I was thinking the same thing... how funny.

[yourout]

3. I am thinking genetically engineered plants may have something....

to do with this.

:shrug:

[live love laugh]

40. Your theory makes sense to me. Nothing proven but it's the common

new factor in our country.

Don't mess with Mother Nature as they used to say.

[insane_cratic_gal]

64. sounds like an X-file episode!

but how often does fiction become reality? That would just be freaky if you were right

[KT2000]

4. Have seen dead bees

on my deck. Actually, they are severely impaired and nearly motionless, then they die.

Very interested in finding out the role of pesticides which are designed to impair nervous systems, immune systems, and any number of enzyme processes.

[kestrel91316]

6. I garden organically, yet I have been seeing unusual numbers of

obviously ill, dying bees the last few years also. Something is up. GM crops are an unlikely factor here in Los Angeles. Pesticides are more likely.

[Richard D]

8. But the odd thing is . . .

. . . that pesticides have been in the environment here for a long long time. Remember all the malathion spraying? But that didn't kill off the bees.

[KT2000]

9. Pesticides are ever changing

and sometimes combined by applicators.

For example, Roundup ran out its patent. Other companies are creating their own versions. One thing they found out about the original Roundup is that their safety studies were done on the ingredient glyphosate alone. It was not until researchers tested the entire product that they found serious problems and that was just last year. Who knows what the competing versions are made of.

Also - pesticide companies may change their inert ingredients, creating a more powerful substance.

The approval process for chemicals is nothing but a joke, unless you own the chemical company.

Pesticides along with other pollutants are affecting and damaging the immune systems of everything living on this earth. The human body has a tremendous capacity for compensating - until it can no longer. Other species are less able. Disappearing frogs, deer wasting disease, tasmaniam devils with cancers covering their mouths, rabbit wasting disease, whales dying in clusters and on and on.

[alfredo]

17. A few years ago they were saying the earth is going through

a mass extinction.


http://www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html

I guess they still are.

[KT2000]

34. Good link - thanks

it is a sad thing.

[alfredo]

55. I know.

[kestrel91316]

50. Yeah, but the chemical companies keep coming up with new, "improved" versions.

[rodeodance]

48. yes, and frogs turning from He's to She's

[kestrel91316]

51. No, no, no, silly! The frogs are growing extra LEGS. The FISH are turning

from hes to shes.

[rodeodance]

53. maybe both?---I saw the article about the frogs just a few days ago on

yahoo.

[insane_cratic_gal]

65. Here's your frog story

PARIS (AFP) - Frogs that started life as male tadpoles were changed in an experiment into females by estrogen-like pollutants similar to those found in the environment, according to a new study.

ADVERTISEMENT

The results may shed light on at least one reason that up to a third of frog species around the world are threatened with extinction, suggests the study, set to appear in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in May


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070227/sc_afp/scienceenvironmentanimalssexfrogs

[roamer65]

24. You know, we're downwind from China.

Astronauts say they can see the pollution blowing across the Pacific directly to us. I wonder...all that coal burning over there...isn't mercury a neurotoxin?

[mike_c]

5. it's the rapture....

Guess the fundy's got it wrong.

[roamer65]

22. BeeJeezus's second coming.

[mikelewis]

61. It could be the rapture... Isaiah 7:18...

In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.
They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes.
In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.
Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns.
As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.
Isaiah 7:18-7:25

Of course Isaiah was speaking of the coming of the Messiah and since that day has come and gone... but wait...

Now we have the "Second Coming of the Messiah" down in Florida...


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840066/site/newsweek/

Maybe the Lord is calling the bees just as Isaiah said he would to signify the coming of Christ...

On second thought... nahhh...

[Auntie Bush]

7. Good article, I hope they find the cause of all those bee deaths.

I never knew beekeeping was a "way of life" to anyone.

[dysfunctional press]

11. bee mites.

i remember reading something last summer that said that lots of hives were being lost to some particularly virulent type of bee mites.

[Mojorabbit]

14. I keep bees

I am an amateur but this is not mites. It is something else. The Bee Journals are coming out with a lot of articles about it.

[WiseButAngrySara]

15. What are some of the speculations? ....n/t

[Mojorabbit]

33. here is pdf file

from the fla state dept of agriculture with a lot of info on theories
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/plantinsp/apiary/fall_dwindle_report.pdf
One of the theories involves a class of pesticides which seems to affect their memory
from the pdf
"Recent research tested crops where seed was treated with imidacloprid. The chemical was
present, by systemic uptake, in corn, sunflowers and rape pollen in levels high enough to
pose a threat to honey bees. Additional research has fond that imidacloprid impairs the
memory and brain metabolism of bees, particularly the area of the brain that is used for
making new memories.

Implication: If bees are eating fresh or stored pollen contaminated with these chemicals at
low levels, they may not cause mortality but may impact the bee’s ability to learn or
make memories. If this is the case, young bees leaving the hive to make orientation
flights may not be able to learn the location of the hive and may not be returning causing
the colonies to dwindle and eventually die. It is also possible that this is not the sole
cause of the dwindling but one of several factors contributing factors."

They are also looking at viruses, fungus and a host of other possibilities. Personally, I am worried about all those gm crops with roundup genes.

[WiseButAngrySara]

38. Affects bees memories! I find that so sad. Thanks for the link.

This is a topic that I've been completely unaware of. GM crops with round-up genes ...are you implying that they might be more susceptible to viruses, fungi or mites that infect honey bees?

[Mojorabbit]

41. It is intuitive on my part and I could b e totally wrong

I think that the whole food chain down to the smallest insects are so intricately interwoven that messing with a small part can have large repercussions. Monsanto says it is safe for honeybees but somehow I just do not trust their studies and if it is safe for them I don't know that it still does not have an inadvertent affect on the chain.. .that results in problems for the bees.

I don't know if that makes any sense. I just think we still do not know the intricate weaving of how nature keeps it's balance.

[WiseButAngrySara]

43. I absolutely agree with your 'intuitive' view of nature, and

also believe that all life is connected (and modern quantum physics somehow supports this 'intuitive' or mystical view on things, apparently.) I have read this entire thread with interest, and I think it is likely multifactorial and man-made. Several posters have implicated B*'s lax environmental laws, others suburb lawn chemicals, others genetically modified food ...who knows? But if we did "know the intricate weaving of how nature keeps it's balance" do you think that that would stop the short sighted interests of those who profit by mucking up the web? I don't trust this current administration for that. They care only for themselves, blindly unaware that essentially we are all one, so they are really in essence harming themselves in their lack of concern for others, in this generation or those to come.

[Bill McBlueState]

52. quantum physics

Quantum physics says that the act of measuring a subatomic process appears to affect its subsequent evolution. Some people extrapolate that into very general statements about the macroscopic world, but the science of quantum physics doesn't support those extrapolations.

[karlrschneider]

20. Are they disappearing down there too? Don't citrus trees need them

...

[Mojorabbit]

29. No one I know has lost any so far

This from the Fl dept of agriculture
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/plantinsp/ccd.html
Colony Collapse Disorder, also known as Fall-Dwindle Disease, is of great concern to beekeepers worldwide. Beekeepers are reporting the sudden loss of adult bees in their colonies – few, if any, adult bees are found in or near the dead colonies. Queen and baby (brood) bees remain in the colonies, but the adults are not returning to provide food, so the colonies collapse or die. Over 22 US states reported significant colony losses in the fall of 2006. Similar reports are coming from Europe as well. Researchers are considering viruses, bacteria, fungi, weather, food loss, and other stresses as possible causes. Additional information can be found through the links below.

But then I am an amateur beekeeper and do not know any of the big bee operation people. I think it has so far been mostly a problem in the big operations who transport their bees for pollinating which stresses them out. I don't do that. I am keeping a close eye on my ladies though.
Here is a map of where the out breaks have been.

[karlrschneider]

31. Seems strage no reporting from LA, AR and AL. All between you and me

So that means we don't really know the situation in those states, apparently. It's a shame there isnot more data from those spots.

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. I haven't seen a honeybee in over a year.

My garden use to be full of them. Now it's bumblebees and wasps in the garden. I'm also not getting the yields like in the past. Last year, three 70-ft rows of lima beans produced half what they normally produce. The peas were almost as bad. Soil samples are fine, so something is fucking up the works.

[WiseButAngrySara]

16. Are you implying it might be lack of pollination by the

honeybees?

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. I don't know what happened.

Last summer's garden was the worst in years.

[poiuytsister]

12. I am kind of embarassed to admit I am a Coast to Coast junkie

but they have been alluding to this a lot lately. I was wondedring what the details were, thanks.

[BeHereNow]

13. I got home from work today and researched this very thing- it's hanging heavy on my mind

I found some VERY interesting things on the net-
One bee keeper suspects that a variation on a pesticide is responsible.
-Notes that two countries in Europe who BANNED the pesticide
have not had the problem of the disappearing bees.
-Notes that certain predator insects, a moth and beetle, who normally
invade ababoned hives have not- avoiding them completely, suggesting
that something toxic is in them.
-Notes that Albert Einstein said that if the honey bee disappeared, humanity
would not survive for more than 4 years, due to food shortages.

Frankly, it all scares me to death.

BHN

[WiseButAngrySara]

19. Seriously? Albert Einstein made a prediction about honey

bees? I can see the reason for your alarm. Off to google. This is all news to me.

[roamer65]

23. Einstein is right on bees. We lose them and its over.

[pitohui]

27. honeybees are NOT native to north america, actually

if einstein said such a thing, it might be accurate for europe

they are not a natural part of the north american environment, they were introduced by europeans

maybe nature has finally gotten around to reacting to an intruder

we have native pollinators or at least we did before we completely altered the north american continent

this is wikipedia's take, but to my knowledge it's substantially correct:

In 1622, first European colonists brought the sub-species Apis mellifera mellifera to the Americas. Many of the crops that depend on honey bees for pollination have also been imported since colonial times. Escaped swarms (known as wild bees, but actually feral) spread rapidly as far as the Great Plains, usually preceding the colonists. The Native Americans called the honey bee "the white man's fly". Honey bees did not naturally cross the Rocky Mountains; they were carried by ship to California in the early 1850s. The so-called "killer bee" is a strain of this species, with ancestral stock of African origin (thus often called "Africanized").

[roamer65]

30. Yes, but our lifestyle is very eurocentric.

We ourselves brought a european lifestyle with us, including the bees. A good chunk of our foodcrops depend on bee pollination, just like it did in Europe. No pollination...we die.

[WiseButAngrySara]

35. I did a brief google on this, and one of the articles stated

that 30% of our food supply was dependent on honey bee pollination. I was stunned.

[alfredo]

44. The honey bee use is in that it will travel great distances during the

day. We have other pollinators but they aren't near as useful to big agribusiness. or even the big family farms.


I do remember the last years as a mail carrier I noticed more wasps and bumble bees and less honey bees.



BTW, some people are saying we are having an explosion of the Red Velvet Ant in Kentucky. I can't confirm that, but you can never tell with the way things are changing. Anyway, it isn't an Ant, it is a flightless wasp. As a kid I lived in fear of them. If you get stung by one, you will understand.


Actually, they are very pretty. The bright colors could be a warning to predators.


I just found out they are also call Cow Killers.

[WiseButAngrySara]

45. Interesting. Maybe they're filling in the niche of the flying

honey bees? But pretty? The colors maybe! They do look like ants though, especially since they don't fly.

[alfredo]

54. I do think the bumble bees and other native bees are filling

in the niche, the Red Velvet might have secured its own a long time ago. I am now living in an area where I don't see them. It could be that I am not in a rural area anymore. Maybe they like the sandy soil of Louisville Ky, I don't know.

[karlrschneider]

32. True enough, but go back far enough and nothing is "native"

The thing is, we have come to be dependent on the crops that DO require bee activity. Before the Europeans occupied North America, there wasn't much of a need for insectivorous pollination, but then at that time the small indigenous population wasn't dependent on those kinds of agriculture.

[pitohui]

66. the indigenous population did have agriculture

i think we have left behind old ideas that native americans were in the stone age when europeans arrived, they weren't, they had agriculture, some at least worked metal (the cherokee for sure)

and we had many insect (and bird) pollinators, we actually had a nice variety, i remember reading a long list of them somewhere, need to find such a list and get it online for informational purposes

i do like it that i'm seeing more of our native bumblebees around, i remember the years way back when it was thought they were the ones in danger of extinction

any time we put all our eggs in one basket and rely on a single species to do a job, we've put ourselves in a vulnerable position, one disease or in this case it appears to be one bad reaction to a new pesticide and we lose not just the species but we have no back-ups left to step in and do the job

we need more bio-diversity and the over-reliance on the honeybee was probably never ideal

one good thing about insects is that if an issue is fixed, they can reproduce and build up again to a decent population reasonably fast, so ID the problem and fix it, the pesticide in question should be removed from the market until it is proven not to be the cause -- i see no reason for "innocent until proven guilty" with a chemical, should probably be the opposite for safety's sake

if this chemical is the cause, quick action should get the bees back and running -- agree with some other posters that *co is not known for quick action unfortunately

[Mojorabbit]

37. Europe is losing

their bees too.

[lovuian]

26. Its something environmental and I can gurantee bush's

lax rules is what is going to be the reason
pesticide or Genetic modified food

[rodeodance]

49. Farmers here in WI depend on bees for clover fields and others crops

they raise for milk cows.

[karlrschneider]

18. I'm thinking of a couple of factors that might be at work here

People want 'golf course' lawns and they hire these people to come in with truckloads of directed herbicides and insecticides to 'purify' their yards. Grass doesn't make flowers, like clover and dandelions for example which used to be accepted in lawns. And who knows how toxic that crap they spray all over (Chemlawn is one) is to the bees.

Where we live, there are still a fair number of wild honeybees but fewer every year even though nobody around here that I've noticed gets that chemical lawn treatment. Too many wildflower fields are being mowed down and converted into 'pretty' lawns or grass grazing land.

It might just turn out that bees are the canaries in the mine of humanity.

[InvisibleTouch]

36. I HATE the "lawn care" companies.

That stuff is extremely toxic. Why do you think they tell you to keep pets and kids off the lawn for hours after they spray? It's been shown to cause liver cancer in dogs, and I doubt it ends there.

I've never understood the obsession with a "golf course" lawn - it looks unnatural and ugly to me. What's so terrible about having dandelions? They're wonderful food and medicinal plants. In the flowering stage they're very pretty, and even in the "puffball" stage they look kinda cool. Same can be said for many other "weeds." It's a weird aesthetic that considers a trimmed and managed monoculture to be a status symbol.

Anyway, I agree and wouldn't be surprised if this insane dousing of toxins on the lawns of suburbia has something to do with the decline of bees.

[karlrschneider]

42. I lived in Tampa a few years ago...several of my neighbors had them

come every month or so and they would spray that foul-smelling crap on the lawn. A lot of it would drift over onto my place. I can't begin to prove it but I BELIEVE it contributed to my doggie's
death from cancerous throat tumors. I would like to find a way to keep our yard semi-manicured, just so it doesn't look shitty without having to mow it but I don't know how. At least we don't spray 'weed killer' on it. :eyes:

[InvisibleTouch]

62. I've heard of people planting clover...

...instead of grass, which stays short, doesn't need to be mowed, creates a "green carpet," and needs less water once it's established - but it does attract bees. In light of this problem with bees, that might be a good thing, to provide a source of nectar - but from a homeowner's perspective I'd be worried about my dogs snapping at a bee and being stung inside their mouth or throat, or young kids getting stung. I would probably stick with a multi-species lawn ("weeds" welcome) and bite the bullet and mow, but you can leave the grass clippings to compost in place.

Sorry to hear about your dog! I would totally freak and panic if I had neighbors sending that poison into my airspace. I think I would put up a barrier fence or something.

The ideal solution comes back down to living as far away from other people as I could possibly manage. I'm working on that.

[ArbustoBuster]

69. Your plan is exactly what I do.

I let whatever weeds want to colonize my lawn just go ahead and colonize it. I figure: weeds are green like grass, so no one will ever notice. :)

People who spend money on their lawns confuse the heck out of me. The purpose of a lawn is to keep the dirt from washing away in the rain, as far as I'm concerned. Fortunately for me, my neighbors have the same attitude, so no one around me uses lawn care companies.

[mikelewis]

25. Map of the affected areas... unreal...

[WiseButAngrySara]

39. This is frightening. ....n/t

[madokie]

56. This loss of our honeybee colonies has been going on for some time I might add

one of my friends used to have several hives and about 10 or so years ago he started loosing them to some kind of mites, best I remember. They lost most of their hives. first time I went with him to collect the honey he put on all this garb to keep the bees away and had the little smoke generator, which I thought was cool btw and wanted to know if I wanted to dress up too. I said no I will be alright and sure enough we collected, raided or whatever is right several of his hives and I never got stung once. a few would land on me but none stung. I knew an old man when I was a kid who told me if you stay calm they won't sting, he was right too as far as I can tell.

In all seriousness this is serious business. I wonder what new something man has started using or doing that contributes to the loss.
I remember ddt and the effect it had on bird eggs :shrug:

[mikelewis]

28. Here's a really good preliminary report... excerpts...

Symptoms of CCD
1) In collapsed colonies
a. The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little build up
of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
b. The presence of capped brood in colonies.
c. The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
i. which is not immediately robbed by other bees
ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive
beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively collapsing
a. An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
b. The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
c. The queen is present
d. The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and
protein supplement

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pressReleases/FallDwindleUpdate0107.pdf

The neonicotinioids, for example imidacloprid, are a rather new class of pesticides. There have been new chemicals of this sort introduced over the past few years (clothianiden and thiamethoxam). There is conflicting information about their effect on honey bees, however the EPA identifies these chemicals as highly toxic to honey bees. "Clothianiden is highly toxic to honey bees on an acute basis (LD50>0.0439 mg/bee). It has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other non-target pollinators through the translocation of clothianidine residues in nectar and pollen.

In honey bees,the effects of this toxic chronic exposure may include lethal and/or sub-lethal effect in the larvae and reproductive effects on the queen". . Some researchers have not found this effect but most were looking for mortality and not chronic or behavioral effect. In addition, a study in NC found that some of these neonictinoids in combination with certain fungicides, synergized to increase the toxicity of the neonicotinoid over 1,000 fold in lab studies. Both the neonicotinoids and the fungicides (Terraguard and Procure) are used widely.

Recent research tested crops where seed was treated with imidacloprid. The chemical was present, by systemic uptake, in corn, sunflowers and rape pollen in levels high enough to pose a threat to honey bees. Additional research has fond that imidacloprid impairs the memory and brain metabolism of bees, particularly the area of the brain that is used for making new memories.

Implication: If bees are eating fresh or stored pollen contaminated with these chemicals at low levels, they may not cause mortality but may impact the bee’s ability to learn or make memories. If this is the case, young bees leaving the hive to make orientation flights may not be able to learn the location of the hive and may not be returning causing the colonies to dwindle and eventually die. It is also possible that this is not the sole cause of the dwindling but one of several contributing factors.
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pressReleases/FallDwindleUpdate0107.pdf

[rodeodance]

57. Lots of the Science of the problem is in this report, Thanks much

Lots of the Science of the problem is in this report

[riverdeep]

46. The dependence is amazing

Without the lowly insects, we would perish, without us they would do just fine.

[rodeodance]

58. we spread such joy around the world

ha ha

[bikebloke]

47. Monsanto

Didn't Monsanto create genetically modified crops that were for one-time use? Farmers could grow crops, but not get seeds from them. For the next season, they'd have to go back to Monsanto for more seeds. Capitalism at its dirtiest. Perhaps that would have an effect of the bees.

[lectrobyte]

59. That and more. Read up on "Round-Up Ready" crops if you really want

to not look at that plate of vegetables the same way ever again.

[Shallah Kali]

68. They are patenting seeds in general so they own the rights. Farmers cant' save seed for next year

or sell to a neighbor. Corporations are doing their vile best to take total control of every bite of food we eat so they can make the maximum amount of money possible. Growing ones own food using non-patented seeds has pracitally become an act of rebellion. Thankfully there are groups like Seed Savers ( http://www.seedsavers.org ) trying to preserve as wide a variety of plant life as possible but it gets harder for them when GMOs keep contaminating other crops. like recently the FDA approved without any study GMO rice because it has already spread so far and wide from the test fields. Other countries are refusing to buy US crops because testing showed the presence of GM rice in the shipments.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

71. Yes. Monsanto is causing irreparable harm.

They really need to be thoroughly investigated.

[Ganja Ninja]

60. While I don't no why bees are dying I'm sure it has something ...

to do with Bush-co and their corporate cronies writing their own regulations. If it were anything else they would know the cause.

[spinbaby]

63. First, let me complain

This is about honey bees, not bumblebees. And your misuse of the apostrophe makes one want to ask, "A bumblebee's what?"

That said, in the past few years, we rarely see honey bees in the garden anymore. Bumblebees we have aplenty.

[pitohui]

67. the OP doesn't know one bee from another, a common problem

yeah, i tried to gripe a little above -- bumblebees are a native species to north america, honeybees are introduced, they should certainly not be conflated

i think my point was missed tho

years ago, it was thought bumblebees were suffering from the competition with honeybees and really they were fairly uncommon and would stand out in the field -- as a child i would always take note of a bumblebee as something special

if there is anything good about the honeybee's struggle in recent years, it is that it has allowed a niche to open again for the bumblebee and we see many more of them these days, at least i do

[WiseButAngrySara]

70. Obviously this was just a title from the famous song by Rimsky-

Korsakov, and used quite cleverly IMO, to discuss The Plight of the Honey Bee! And your missing this, and your petty commenting on the minor misplacement of an apostrophe, makes me want to ask, What is this spinbaby spinning, whining, complaining about?

Flight of the Bumblebee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"The Flight of the Bumblebee" is a famous orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899-1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, right after the magic Swan-Bird gives Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) instructions on how to change into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is alive). Although in the opera the Swan-Bird sings during the first part of the "Flight," her vocal line is melodically uninvolved and easily omitted; this feature, combined with the fact that the number decisively closes the scene, made easy extraction as an orchestral concert piece possible.

Just Google Flight of the Bumblebee, and you'll realize your error!

[mikelewis]

74. The Flight of the Bumblebees... a beautiful piece of work... watch and listen here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3uU2asAsqk

and you're right... my use of apostrophe was clearly wrong, my apologies.

[Jonathan50]

72. The canary in the coal mine

Environmental collapse is on the way and I don't think there is anything that can be done to stop it.

Any organism that suffers uncontrolled growth eventually dies poisoned in its own waste products.

Why should humanity be any different?

[WiseButAngrySara]

73. Exactly. I read about honeybees being the canary last night

and look at what a Google search shows. Many more articles at the link.

http://www.google.com/search?q=canary+coal+mine+honeybee+&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8

http://www.earthside.com/earthside/2007/02/are_bees_the_ca.html

Are Bees the Canary in the Coal Mine?

A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.
Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder.
Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers — who often keep thousands of colonies — have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer.
"We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees.

http://www.thenewpolitics.com/2007/02/honeybee_megade.html

Honeybee megadeath

The Associated Press is reporting on the latest calamity to strike the American honeybee population: Colony Collapse Disorder.
This is more a descriptor than a diagnosis. The actual cause for mass honeybee deaths is still unknown. Beekeepers in 22 states have reported losses of more than fifty percent of their colonies. The beekeeping industry is still reeling from massive losses over the past several years from the verroa mite. Beekeepers are speculating that the mite infestations were part of the current syndrome, which includes fungal and bacterial infections and weakened immune systems.
Anyone wondering why honeybee megadeath matters should consider this from the AP story: "A recent report by the National Research Counsil noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants — including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel — rely on pollinators for fertilization." I would add that the situation has a "canary-in-the-coal-mine" feel about it. I don't like seeing stories about mysterious doings in the natural world, mutant frogs and such. Is Colony Collapse Disorder a metaphor for our times?

http://ravenel.si.edu/bcn/issue/260.cfm

Honey and Wild Bee Populations are Threatened

By Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Domesticated honeybees and their native counterparts, which the nation depends on to pollinate billions of dollars worth of fruits, vegetable and other crops, are disappearing thanks to pesticide use on crops and gardens and the destruction of their habitats. The looming agricultural catastrophe that their demise portends, as well as potential solutions, is explored in the summer 2006 edition of OnEarth, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), available at <http://www.nrdc.org/OnEarth/06sum/default.asp>.
Experts interviewed by author Sharon Levy for her OnEarth article "The Vanishing Bee" blame the widespread use of pesticides by farmers who unintentionally poison domesticated honeybee colonies. Non-native species of parasitic mites are also deadly to honeybees. For these reasons, native wild bees will become even more important as pollinators, but they too are threatened because their habitats - natural woodlands, shrubs and flowers - have been decimated by relentless sprawl and development and by modern agriculture's poor land-management practices.
One-third of the food Americans eat comes from crops that are pollinated by bees or other creatures, including butterflies, birds and bats. As they travel from plant to plant, bees transfer pollen that fertilizes blossoms and allows fruits and vegetables to develop. Without bees, many of the foods we enjoy - tomatoes, squash, peppers, apples and pears, for example - could disappear from our tables. Domesticated honeybees, in particular, are in steep decline. In the 1940s, American beekeepers had about 5 million colonies. Today, their colonies number about 2.3 million, while the demand for their services is increasing.
Without the support of migratory beekeepers, crops would fail across the country; therefore, the demise of many of the colonies is having a serious effect on America's farmers, Levy reports. When one-third of all commercial honeybee colonies died out in 2005, for example, the $1.2 billion California almond crop was threatened.
Experts interviewed by Levy believe we can still rescue honeybees and native wild bees by limiting our use of pesticides and by setting aside space for plants that nurture bees.
"Bees are the 'canary in the coal mine' for American agriculture. Their demise is a warning. But there are solutions that make environmental - and economic - good sense," said Doug Barasch, OnEarth's editor-in-chief. "Putting those solutions into practice depends on farmers, homeowners - all of us - realizing that protecting bees is in our own self interest."

[OneBlueSky]

75. actually, I think the frogs have been the canaries for the past several years . . .

unfortunately, the bees may well be what the frogs were warning us about . . . the loss of honey bees could have a MAJOR impact on food supplies, everything from apples to soybeans, avacados and peaches . . . combine that with all the other stresses on the food chain (ocean temperatures and pollution, GM crop contamination, etc.) and food could become a huge issue in coming years . . . right along with water . . .